Traitors, Tattlers, Tourists and Terror

Frontera NorteSur September 12, 2012

Special Report

As the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon enters its final weeks, parts of Mexico remain awash in blood from the so-called narco war. And Mexico’s old beach  resort of Acapulco is among the most violent places. Practically on a daily basis, executions, shoot-outs and the discovery of dismembered bodies disturb the social peace.

The state of Guerrero’s biggest city, Acapulco is a hub of violence that extends into the countryside and reverberates back into the Pacific port city.

“The corridor of the Costa Grande of the state, from Acapulco to the municipality of La Union that borders the state of Michoacan, has been a constant news item because of the criminal acts that are now common in the zone,” recently wrote a reporter for the Guerrero daily El Sur.

In a possible retaliation for the dumping of 17 murdered men in La Union late last month, the bodies of 16 tortured men were found September 10 in a truck parked near police installations up the highway in the rural municipality of Coyuca de Catalan.

Signed by La Familia Michoacana, accompanying messages were directed against the rival Knights Templar; both organizations have common roots in the neighboring state of Michoacan. At least 11 of the earlier victims were identified as residents of Michoacan.

In Acapulco, press accounts report that at least 50 people were murdered from August 24 to September 10. Official numbers released by the Guerrero state government during the first week of September reported that 797 gangland-style homicides were recorded in Acapulco since the commencement of the government’s Operation Safe Guerrero anti-crime campaign in October 2011. Read more.